Top Oregon official put on leave for allegedly prioritizing 'qualified' job candidates over 'gender identity'

Question

A high-ranking employee of the Oregon Department of Forestry reportedly wanted to hire new members based on merit rather than their personal identity. 

A diversity, equity and inclusion expert had her former boss placed on administrative leave for reportedly prioritizing merit over personal identity when hiring new employees, according to a report.

Answer 1

It appears that the main claim, that a "top Oregon official [was] put on leave for allegedly prioritizing 'qualified' job candidates over 'gender identity'", originated from an Oregon Live article which is subscriber-only. The news source, Fox News, and source of the article it references throughout the piece, Daily Mail, are both right-leaning and sensationalist, suggesting that the news source is biased and not necessarily high-quality. Supporting this, both of the authors of the Fox News article have written various other pieces that are pro-Trump and anti-Harris. It doesn't seem that any media outlets other than Fox News and Daily Mail are reporting on this news. Finally, the headline does align with the content in the Fox News article, but doesn't match all the information in the Daily Mail article. This claim is likely misinformation, given that the original source's headline was about the work culture, not the consideration of diversity in hiring candidates, and that "officials have not revealed the reason for his [the "top Oregon official"] absence" (Daily Mail).

Comments

Here's an archived version of that article you can read for free: http://archive.today/W3MJs

It seems the ODF has a lack of diversity and is making no effort to change that culture, which Fox News has interpreted in an incredibly defensive and childish way.

This quote from the OregonLive article does not exactly scream "prioritizing 'qualified' job candidates'":

"Another employee questioned the Forestry Department’s pattern of directly hiring people without following the typical vetting process, saying "this seems shady and leads to an old and current image by employees at ODF that it is the ‘Good Old Boys Club’ or that it is ‘Who you know not what you know.'"”

Answer 2

Fox News’ claim that a “Top Oregon official” was penalized for prioritizing “‘qualified' job candidates over 'gender identity'” is heavily misleading. Fox News corroborates this story from the Daily Mail article titled “Pink-haired DEI trainer slams Oregon forestry bosses 'for hiring on basis of merit not gender or identity'”, that includes statements from the original interview from the article, “‘It is bad for women’: Workers condemn culture at Oregon Forestry Department’” from Oregon Live. Right away we are instantly served two differing news headlines, that indicate two different claims. The original article published by Oregon Live states “The state has received about a dozen complaints against Oregon Department of Forestry leaders this year,” (Oregon Live). The article includes complaints and statements from members of the agency regarding the work environment’s lack in diversity rather than Shaw's lack thereof in hiring practices. No other sources or reports indicate that Shaw’s leave was a direct result of his hiring practices nor due to Donecker’s original complaint. While Fox News does source from the original article, their claim does not capture the underlying work environment issues from the original story, thus it is misleading. Both the Daily Mail and Fox News are not considered to be trustworthy sources riddled with misinformation and often catering to a white republican demographic, and the authors’ published works also tend to take a right-wing stance based on their headlines.